Olaus Magnus is the first who has taken notice of the Leming; and
all that Gesner, Scaliger, Ziegler, Johnston, and others have said
respecting him, is extracted from that author. But Wormius, who made
very strict researches, speaks more particularly. "The leming (says
he) is of the shape of a mouse, but has a shorter tail: his body is
about five inches long, and is covered with fine hair of various
colours. The extremity of the upper part of the head, the neck and
shoulders are black, and the rest of the body is reddish, intermixed
with small black spots of various figures excepting the tail, which is
brown, and not above half an inch long. Some of them have red hairs
about the mouth, resembling whiskers, six of which are considerably
longer than the rest. The mouth is small, and the upper lip divided
like the squirrel. Two sharp, incisive, and crooked teeth, shoot from
the upper jaw, the roots of which penetrate to the orbit of the eyes:
in the lower jaw they have teeth conformable to the upper; a little
distance from these on each side are placed three grinders. The tongue
is pretty large, and extends to the extremity of the incisive teeth.
The remains of the food found in the throat of this animal, induces us
to imagine he ruminates. The eyes are little and black; the ears round
and inclining towards the neck; the legs before are shorter than those
behind; the feet are cloathed with hair, and armed with five very sharp
and crooked claws; the middle claw is the longest and the fifth is like
the spur of a cock, sometimes placed very high up the leg. The hair on
the belly is whitish, bordering a little on yellow, &c."
This animal, though its legs are very short, and its body thick,
runs very swiftly. They generally inhabit the mountains of Norway
and Lapland, from whence they sometimes descend in such numbers,
that the inhabitants look on their arrival as a terrible scourge,
which there is no possibility of preventing. They move, for the most
part, in the night, and remain still during day. It is in vain that
attempts are made to stop their progress, for though thousands are
destroyed, myriads seem to succeed. They generally move in lines about
three feet from each other, and exactly parallel; and their march
is always directed from the north-west to the south-west. Wherever
their motions are directed nothing can turn them aside; if a lake, or
river, interrupts their progress, they all take to the water and swim
over it; even a fire, or a well, does not turn them out of their line
of direction; they boldly plunge into the flames, or leap down the
well, and are sometimes seen climbing up on the other side. If they
are interrupted by a boat, while they are swimming across the river,
they mount directly up its sides, and the boatmen, who know how vain
resistance would be, calmly suffer the living torrent to pass over,
which it does without further damage; and if they meet with a stack
of hay or corn, they gnaw their way through. Happily, however, they
never enter an house to destroy the provisions, but consume every root
and vegetable that they meet, and lay waste every garden, meadow, or
field of corn that comes in their way. If a man ventures to attack
one of them, the little animal is no way intimidated by the disparity
of strength, but furiously flies up at his opponent, and wherever
he fastens, it is not easy to make him quit his hold; and when thus
attacked they have a kind of bark somewhat like that of little dogs.
An enemy so numerous and destructive, would soon render the countries
where they appear utterly uninhabitable, did it not fortunately happen,
that the same rapacity that animates them to destroy the labours of
mankind, at least impels them to destroy each other. After committing
incredible devastations, they at last separate into two armies, opposed
with deadly hatred, along the coasts of the larger lakes and rivers.
The Laplanders, who observe them thus drawn up, instead of considering
their mutual animosities as a happy riddance of the most dreadful
pest, form ominous prognostics from the manner of their engagements:
they consider their combats as a presage of war, and expect an invasion
from the Russians or Swedes. The two divisions, however, continue their
engagements, and from that time they begin to disappear, nor is it well
known what becomes of either the conquerors or the conquered. Some
suppose that they rush into the sea, others that they kill themselves,
as some are found hanging on the forked branches of trees; and others
that they are destroyed by the young spring herbage. But it is most
probable, that having consumed the vegetable productions of the
country, they then fall upon and devour each other. However this may
be, they die in such numbers, that their carcasses have been known to
infect the air, and to produce malignant disorders. They seem also to
infect the plants which they gnaw, as the cattle often die that feed in
the places where they passed. In fine weather, they go in droves into
the water, but no sooner does the wind rise, than they are all drowned.
As the inhabitants know not from whence they come, it is a vulgar
opinion that they fall from the clouds with the rain.[E]
[Footnote E: Scheffer's Hist. Lapland, Phil. Trans. &c.]
The male is generally larger, and its spots bigger than those of the
female. The flesh of the lemings is horrid food, and their skins,
though covered with a very beautiful fur, is of too little consistence
to be serviceable.